News Release

NASHVILLE, Tenn., Aug. 31 /PRNewswire/ -- Prison Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: PZN) announced today that its board of directors has declared quarterly dividends for the Company's Common Stock and the Company's 8.0% Series A Cumulative Preferred Stock.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19981120/CHF004 ) The board of directors declared a third quarter dividend of $0.60 per share, comprised of a regular quarterly dividend of $0.55 per share and a special dividend of $0.05 per share, to be made to stockholders of record of the Common Stock on September 17, 1999 payable on September 30, 1999.

The board of directors has also declared a third quarter dividend of $0.50 per share for stockholders of record of the Preferred Stock on September 30, 1999, payable on October 15, 1999. Dividends on the Preferred Stock are cumulative from the date of original issue and accrue each quarter to the dividend payment dates of the fifteenth day of January, April, July, and October of each year.

Prison Realty's business is the ownership of correctional and detention facilities. The Company provides financing, design, construction and renovation of new and existing jails and prisons that it leases to both private and governmental managers. Prison Realty currently owns 51 correctional and detention facilities in 17 states, the District of Columbia and the United Kingdom having a total design capacity in excess of 49,000 beds, of which fourteen new facilities are under construction or development. Prison Realty is based in Nashville, Tennessee and plans to qualify as a real estate investment trust under the Internal Revenue Code. Corrections Corporation of America provides correctional and detention facility management services to governments for 83 correctional and detention facilities with an approximate design capacity of 73,000 beds, of which 69 facilities with an approximate design capacity of 53,000 beds are in operation.

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those contained in these forward-looking statements due to certain factors. These and other risks and uncertainties are detailed in the Company's reports filed with the SEC.